Cain hosts Muslim leaders

Herman Cain hosted a quiet meeting with a small group of Muslim leaders on Wednesday in an effort to rebuild relations frayed by his comments about not wanting to appoint Muslims to government posts and blocking the construction of mosques.

Cain’s campaign announced plans to convene the outreach meeting this week, but refused to provide details even after the meeting, which was held at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Sterling, Va.

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ADAMS Center board member Robert Marro told POLITICO that the presidential hopeful met with a handful of Muslim leaders then toured the facility, which serves 6,000 families at eight branches in Northern Virginia and Washington.

Cain’s been under fire for his comments, but Marro said he believed they’d been able to open his eyes to the idea that he’s been “getting information from people that maybe had some other agendas in mind.”

They discussed the supposed danger of the incursion of Sharia law, which have been referenced by many candidates campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, as well as the contributions of Muslims to American society, Marro said.

“I think he left the meeting with an entirely different view of what Muslims are and what mosques do,” Marro said. “If he was expecting to see secret nooks and crannies where people are plotting nefarious things, he would have been highly surprised to find there is nothing like that in ours — or other mosques across the country.”

Marro said he believed that they had achieved a complete turnaround in Cain’s positions.

“I would be flabbergasted if he ever repeated those statements and said that communities should be allowed to ban mosques,” He said. “I think that the meeting today has changed his mind 100 percent. From the tenor of the conversation, I can’t see him repeating such things.”

In a statement sent to reporters following the meeting, Cain apologized for causing offense to Muslims, but didn’t renounce his earlier comments.

“While I stand by my opposition to the interference of shariah law into the American legal system, I remain humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends,” Cain said. “I am truly sorry for any comments that may have betrayed my commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the freedom of religion guaranteed by it. Muslims, like all Americans, have the right to practice their faith freely and peacefully.”

Marro said Cain’s statement was “as close to a heartfelt and sincere apology that I’ve seen from any politician anywhere.”

ADAMS, one of the largest mosques in the country, frequently hosts politicians and other public figures. Imam Mohamed Magid, the executive director, invited Cain to attend a Friday prayer service and be introduced to the congregation.

Because Cain is a Baptist preacher, Marro said, Cain was invited to give a “brief sermon” on an apolitical topic at a later date.

Earlier Wednesday, while attending a tea party rally on Capitol Hill to urge Congressional members to “hold the line” against a deficit reduction compromised, Cain declined to answer questions about the meeting, which at that point had still not been publicly announced.

When asked by reporters what he planned to say, he declined to provide details, saying only, “We have to move on.”